(2.) Those who would have the sense of the word to be, " to take away," in this place, confess it is by way of the allusion before men- tioned, that he that takes away a thing takes it up, and bears it on his shoulders, or in his arms, until he lay it down, and by virtue of this allusion doth it signify ''to take away." But why? Seeing that taking up and bearing in this place is proper, as hath been showed, why must that be leaped over, and that which is improper and spoken by way of allusion be insisted on?
(3.) It appears that this is the sense of the word from all the cir- cumstances of the text and context. Take three that are most con- siderable : —
[1.] The subject spoken of who did thus bear our griefs, and this is Christ, of whom such things are affirmed, in answer to this ques- tion. How did he bear our griefs? as will admit of no other sense. The Holy Ghost tells us how he did it, 1 Pet. ii. 24, " Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree." That Peter in that place expressed this part of the prophecy of Isaiah which we insist upon is evident; the phrase at the close of verse 24 and the beginning of verse 25 of this chapter make it so; they are the very words of the end of the 5th and beginning of the 6th verses here.
4:54! VINDICLE EVANGELIC^
How, then, did Christ bear our griefs? Why, in that " he bare our sins in his own body on the tree/'
I shall not insist on the precise signification of the word avafspu, here used, as though it expressed the outward manner of that suffer- ing of Christ for sin when he was lifted up on the cross or tree. It is enough that our sins were on him, his body, — that is, his whole human nature, by a usual synecdoche, — when he was on the tree; that he did it when he "suffered in the flesh," 1 Pet. iv. 1. He that did so bear our griefs, sins, and iniquities, as to have them in his own body when he suffered in the flesh, he is said properly therein " tulisse,'' not " abstulisse," to " have borne," not " taken away," our griefs. But that this is the case in Christ's bearing our griefs the Holy Ghost doth thus manifest.
[2.] The manner how Christ bare them evidently manifesteth in Avhat sense this expression is to be understood. He so bare them that in doing so " he was wounded and bruised, grieved, chastised, slain/' as it is at large expressed in the context. Christ bare our griefs so as in doing of it to be wounded, broken, grieved, killed; which is not to take them away, but really to bear them upon himself.
[8.] The cause of this bearing our griefs is assigned to be sin, " He was wounded for our transgressions ;" as was shown before. Now, this cannot be the sense, "For our sins, he took them away;" but, "For our sins, he bare the punishment due to them," 2 Cor. v. 21.
(4.) To put all out of question, the Holy Ghost in this chapter useth another word in the same matter with this, that will admit of no other sense than that which is proper, and that is ???: Verse 11, 73D^ S^n Dniij;!^ — "He shall bear their iniquities;" and it is used immediately after this we have insisted on, as explicative of it, "And carried our sorrows." Now, as ^^^^ properly signifies " to lift," to " take up" that which a man may carry, so ??? signifies to "bear" and " undergo" the burden that is taken up, or that a man hath laid on his shoulders. And Matthew hath rendered this word by /Satrra^w, rag voaoug iZdaraeiv, — that is, " bajulo, porto," to bear a thing as a man doth a burden on his shoulders. Nor is it once used in the Scriptures but it is either properly to bear a burden, or metaphorically from thence to undergo that which is heavy and burdensome. Thus did Christ bear our griefs, our iniquities, by putting his shoulder under them, taking them on himself.
2, What did he thus bear? Our griefs, our sins; or our iniquities, our sins. Let us see, by a second instance, what it is in the language of God "to bear iniquities," and this argument will be at an issue: Lam. V. 7, " Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities." " We have borne their iniquities," or the punishment that was due to them. " They are not," — "They are gone out of the world before the day of recompense came ; and we lie un-
DIGRESSION CONCERNING GROTIUS ON ISAIAH LIII. 455
der the punishment threatened and inflicted for their sins and our own." Distinctly, —
(1.) Men are said to bear their own sin: Lev. xix. 8, "Every one that eateth it shall bear his iniquity;" that is, he shall be esteemed guilty, and be punished. Lev. xx. 1 7, " He shall bear his iniquity, " is the same with " He shall be killed," verse 16, and "He shall be cut off from among his people," verse 18. For a man to " bear his ini- quity," is, constantly, for him to answer for the guilt and undergo the punishment due to it.